Now she went blossoming over her blood, and her blood went rushing deep beneath her.
Rainer Maria Rilke
On Elisa Sunga — I was born in the Philippines before moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2001. Since then, the Bay Area has become my home, my playground, and my canvas to life: getting my braces, learning how to ride a bike at twenty-seven, to getting my first real job, and to many more adventures and misadventures along the way. During the week I am a UX Program Manager at Google (more) where I obsess over design, research, user experience, and team culture. Outside of my nine-to-five, I spread myself dangerously thin over a menagerie of hobbies, interests, passions, dreams, and ideas. From gourmet popcorn-making, to training for obstacle course races, to baking every single pie from the Four and Twenty Blackbirds piebook, to reading as many books as I can, etc. Some of these survive the test of time and become constants in my life; others last a week. Each season, day, and moment brings something new; I start over, I repeat, I continue.
On this time capsule — There are so many moments and memories, living and dying at each passing second. I want to treasure all that I have and capture them, have them forever, and to constantly remind me where I’ve gone and where I’ve yet to go. I hope to collate and collect all of the forms of my self-expression and energies here.
my being
In pursuit of magic — I am driven by the ruthless pursuit of wondering, tasting, and creating. It keeps me awake at night, alert at all moments of the day to day, and alive to the magic of it all. I am inspired and floored by it. I believe in the magic of holidays, of the warmth of freshly plated bowls, of the grandeur of buildings young and old as time, of the depth between smiles, of the balance of comfort and style, of the strength from tears and sweat, of the grit born from hard work and patience, of the strokes of genius at seven o’clock on a Tuesday night, of the value of trust and good faith, of the adventure of a Sunday at home and a midnight in Paris, of the brilliance of street food for less than a dollar, of the bravado of denim on denim, of the courage to speak up and grow up, the glow of lamps and the flicker of candles, of the courage to create and burn, burn and create. Most of all, I believe in creating, designing, and transforming everything I touch into a beautiful experience and moment.
my three things
On wonder — I rarely live in the present, a curse and blessing on its own merits. I am perpetually planning and daydreaming the future, grasping at future breaths and emotions lightyears away. This moves my life and my pace at an incredible speed. I find myself living fast while also craving the luxury of slow and steady. Slowly, I’m learning to balance the two but for now I live a life full of #lateposts, wanderings, and moments to eternalize a time and place. I believe in documenting each moment, struggle intensely with curating and filtering, and share along the way.
On taste — I enjoy beautifully and meticulously plated food and rice bowls served on low stools in an alley way somewhere. I’m a fan of the extremes. I enjoy spicy, sour, and bitter flavors. On the savory side I am drawn to egg yolks, mushrooms, internal organs, lime, green mangoes, vinegar, blood, and bottarga. On the sweeter side: babkas and kouign amanns, carrot cakes and brownies, donuts and pies, peanut butter, dark chocolate, rose, gingerbread, cardamom, citrus, banana, pumpkin, and apples. If any of these are on the menu, I’m definitely ordering it.
On create — My earliest memory of a craft project is a scrapbook documenting my childhood home. It was a collection of photos and little vignettes, largely inspired by Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. It was the start to my own form of documentation and of capturing my memories in physical form. Today, wanderdoll, is a digital version of that project.
